Do we need another story of a parent duking it out with an umpire at a Little League game to agree that we've completely lost our minds as a society?

We don't.

And if you've ever slung an equipment bag over your shoulder to be greeted by a bunch of doe-eyed T-ball players with baseball in their hearts and Swedish fish in their veins, you know that coaching a team can be more frightening than bringing a baby home from the hospital for the first time. You've got a roster of a dozen babies, and they all belong to other parents, people you may have to pull off an umpire by the time their kid reaches coach-pitch and who certainly will question your credentials. You know, by the way, you have no credentials, other than that the league president caught you in a weak moment and you know in which direction to point kids when they get a hit and don't know which way to run.

Meanwhile, you fear your third-grader has no chance of ever playing varsity baseball because he's not on a travel team. Your best friend could have sent his son to Harvard for what he's spent on trying to improve his kid's basketball skills, and he made the poor kid give up soccer and lacrosse in the process.

We all just have to let go of the fact that there are no teeangers in our churches because their rec league volleyball teams and swim clubs compete on Sundays. We have to let go of the fact that there are some coaches who have taken youth sports away from community control and developed them into money-making enterprises, where young players turn over their lives and parents' checkbooks to ultra-competitive leagues. This is the world of youth sports now. And so for those of us who still believe in coaches who can inspire, and the life lessons taught in a last-second Pop Warner loss, there has to be some way to salvage sports for our kids.

That's why it was so disheartening — yet uplifting — to see a half-dozen youth league or team organizers gathered in Albany on Wednesday for a presentation by the National Alliance for Youth Sports. NAYS chief operating officer John Engh was there to talk about certification and training programs the Flordia-based nonprofit offers for administrators and coaches. The programs not only teach the fundamentals of working with kids, but also provide coaches solid training in the fundamentals of at least a dozen sports. They offer an anonymous coach rating system that can be used by parents to quietly report problems with coaches to league administrators, a task that can get sticky in small, close-knit communities where the coach happens to be the league president's brother. And they give program administrators the tools they need to weed out the bad seeds.

If you helped out at a hospital, you'd get some training, but when it comes to youth sports, young players sometimes are handed over to coaches who have the desire to help but none of the skills. When you drop your kid off for the first day of kindergarten, you know you're leaving them with a background-checked adult who has a master's degree in education, Engh says. But can the same be said about the guy leading soccer tots?

And though some leagues have parents sign a code of conduct at the beginning of the season — can you believe it's even come to that? — the alliance goes an extra step by offering training for parents on how to be good role models and support their children without scrapping it out with a referee. It's a shame that isn't as intrinsic as when to swing at a fastball, but that's reality.

The alliance, which has trained 3 million coaches since it started in 1981, has a healthy hold on reality. They think starting kids in sports too young leads to overuse injuries and mental burnout. They believe a child who's 8 or 9 shouldn't be playing on travel teams. They believe leagues should encourage equal playing time.

The group listening connected with Engh's message. One program organizer said she has more problems with parents of her 6- and 7-year-old athletes than she does with the children; she asked whether Engh thought coaching volunteers really would be willing to pay $20 for the training and certification. Another asked a question about how to keep bad coaches from getting gigs in other leagues.

They know that a child's early sports experience can shape whether the child develops a love for the game. If only the workshop had packed in enthusiastic adults like a Saturday afternoon football game, more people would be able to carry the ball for our kids.

The National Alliance for Youth Sports will hold a training for league administrators March 23 at The Saratoga Hilton. For more information, contact NAYS at 561-684-1141 or look for information soon at the New York State Recreation and Park Society website (www.nysrps.org).